Big Maxtor's (200gb+) = Big Temperatures?!

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Before taking action with replacing the drive, I'm trying to figure out what's normal.

My Maxtor DM9+ 200GB SATA (6Y200M0) runs 15C to 20C over case ambient. And with case ambient often around 30C, that puts me around 50C or a little more quite often.

Now, you may be thinking case problems (I use as both case fans, all it allows), but then how to explain what happens if I put a Maxtor DM9+ 160GB PATA (6Y160P0) in there instead: it runs at or just a few degrees above case ambient!

Clearly something is out of whack with the larger SATA drive. If platter density or the number of platters have anything to do with it, I list that data below, and I encourage anyone reporting back here to do the same:

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I don't have any temps with the Maxline Plus II's in single drive or two drive setups inside a standard ATX chassis, so I don't think this helps... but we run 16x250GB Maxline Plus II's in a customer configuration with drive temps below +10C over ambient.

So, I don't think the drive actually is running particularly hot unless you have a bad drive or something. Have you tried touching the drive to see if it actually feels hot (to rule out the SMART temps being incorrect)?

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IIRC, smaller, older WD180 drives in the same customer setup were only 6C over ambient, so yes, the Maxline Plus II's do seem to run hotter enough to notice by feel... but I don't think that would fully account for the temperature differences you're seeing.

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continuum, yes I've touch-tested both of them, and the 200GB is noticeably warmer. Your Maxline Plus II seems like a very similar drive, but I think it has 83GB platters, which may be what's keeping things in check for you. I'd be very happy with only a 10C rise.

So far, the comments indicate that my flavor of Maxtor is not exactly the coolest in town, and summer's not even here yet. Short of directing a gale force at it, which is not possible with my case, I guess the question is what these seemingly "normal" hot temperatures mean, as Zstation mentioned.

For such a similar drive as the 160 to be dead cool by comparison is puzzling, but if it's not the platter situation causing that, I'd like to know what is. I think the latest version of the 200's do come with 80GB platters.

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True, but as I'm thinking about that now, with the exception of the 100GB/platter drives that just came out, it seems to me it's impossible to get away with using only two platters/four heads once you hit 200GB. If this is the key factor, shouldn't more people with other drive brands of this size or larger be seeing these kinds of temps?

I wonder if more things play into it, like how well the firmware is directing the drive in its actions.

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I've used both 6Y200P0 and the 7Y250P0 drives. Both drives run in my computer with a 8cm 1500RPM fan in front at ~35-39 degrees. Ambient temperature is about 25 degrees C. Case ambient is 35 degrees C.

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Your Maxline Plus II seems like a very similar drive, but I think it has 83GB platters, which may be what's keeping things in check for you. I'd be very happy with only a 10C rise.

The Maxline II + 250 has 3 platters and should be similar in temp readouts to your dm9+ 200 gig.

I suspect there is something wrong with a drive that runs so hot, the only source for that heat has to be from the bearings, if it was the heads the drive would only get hot during massive I/O. I would try to change that drive....

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"The DM+9, just as all other DiamondMax Pluses, incorporates a 7200 RPM spindle speed. Maxtor specifies an average read seek times of 9.4 milliseconds. The family as a whole incorporates a bewildering amount of options. In addition to platter densities, the drives come equipped with either ball bearing or the newer and quieter fluid dynamic bearing motors. Buffer size may be either 2 or 8 megabytes. Maxtor offers DM+9's in a boxed retail package under the "Ultra" moniker, which come equipped with FDB motors and an 8-megabyte buffer. Those users ordering bare units from specialty resellers should, however, double check to ensure that they know exactly what kind of drive they should expect to receive. "

You may have a ball bearing drive, someone posted how to check on this forum, the search for that post is left as an exercize for the reader.

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"If you have a screw under the label where the motor is located, it's a BB. If there is no screw, it's a FDB. This is true at least for the multi-platter platform (the only FDB motor I've seen anywhere that uses a screw is used on some Seagate SCSI drives, AFAIK)"

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actually, doesnt FDB require more power and generate more heat because of the increased resistance of fluid bearings?

If it was so, why would the entire industry change to fluid bearings....?

quieter and more reliable... the heat and power requirements are minimal although they do exist.

There are other factors that affect heat and power requirements as well. So you can say all things being equal and FDB drive will use more power and generate more heat than a BB drive. But you cannot compare between brands or models... even between individual drives of the same model there may be differences.

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My Maxtor DM9+ 200GB SATA (6Y200M0) runs 15C to 20C over case ambient. And with case ambient often around 30C, that puts me around 50C or a little more quite often.

Now, you may be thinking case problems (I use as both case fans, all it allows), but then how to explain what happens if I put a Maxtor DM9+ 160GB PATA (6Y160P0) in there instead: it runs at or just a few degrees above case ambient!

I had a 60GB Maxtor DM+9 with FDB, that also ran quite hot, as compared to my IBM drives at the time, and also as compared to later purchased WD JB drives. This was also verified by a "touch test", although I do think that the thermal sensor as positioned in the Maxtor drives is probably quite close to the hottest part of the drive, as it seems to indicate increases in temps quite rapidly.

Needless to say, that drive died in less than 6 months. Not sure if the temps had anything to do with it, or whether they were just another symptom of a poorly-built or poorly-handled (before it got to me) HD.

I think that the QC and overall quality of modern HDs has taken a noticable dip. The fact that Maxtors are now also made in China should probably also been seen as an indicator of that. (The 60GB that failed on me was made in Singapore though, the production lines in China didn't exist then.) Some drives are just a lot more variable with respect to the specifications than others, including temperatures. I don't think that it has anything specifically to do with FDB vs. non-FDB, or number of heads/platters, because my drive was a single-platter/dual-head design, which should have otherwise been quite cool and reliable, one would think, as compared to models with more platters/heads.

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It pulls air in through a 5.25" fan-cooled removeable harddrive cooler, so these drives just run warmer than the 2-platter designs I assume.

For this reason I'm eventually going to RAID1 (mirror) two of them together. It might be happy it's whole life, but if not, I can't lose 250GB of data at once. When I move them to a lower bay, it will have a larger fan on them anyway so I'm less worried than in my current single-drive configuration.

It will be interesting to see what SR's numbers are on the 400GB Hitachi drives with even more platters.